Faced with declining reservoirs and an end to the easy oil the Middle East is embracing enhanced oil recovery techniques to produce the next trillion barrels.
Faced with declining reservoirs and an end to the easy oil the Middle East is embracing enhanced oil recovery techniques to produce the next trillion barrels.
"When you consider field decline, EOR is a necessity, but at the same time it takes courage and vision to push these projects through, and that's a combination we've seen in Oman."
Several factors have combined to force EOR to the front of the industry's agenda worldwide. With cutting edge technology it is possible to develop heavy oil reservoirs that were not technologically feasible in the past.
High oil demands, prices, and the decline of conventional oil are all factors pushing the oil companies towards the heavy oil. The abundance of heavy oil resources is well documented, and in many cases, such as Oman, there are reduced exploration costs because a number of heavy oil reservoirs have already been discovered.
Petroleum Development Oman (PDO), a joint venture between the Government of Oman and Shell, has embarked on a major drive to reverse declining oil production.
As primary and secondary recovery techniques come to the end of their natural life, PDO is increasingly turning to Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) methods to extend Oman's production plateau into the coming decades.
In 2006, the company spent in excess of US $3 billion in oil field development projects and is very likely to see continued high capital expenditure in the forth-coming years.
Shell Technology Oman (STO) was officially launched in November 2006 as Shell's Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) Research and Development (R&D) Centre based in the Middle East.
This new centre is forming an integral part of Shell's global Exploration & Production Technology organisation.
"The main change in PDO's strategy towards EOR is due to the maturity of the company's producing oil fields. All fields, anywhere in the world, have limited recovery from primary mechanisms and Oman is not an exception," says Dr Xu Dong Jing, Manager of Shell Technology, Oman.
"We have now reached a point when we need to embark on tertiary recovery mechanisms which are known as enhanced oil recovery [EOR] methods."
" However, in Oman there is an additional factor in oil production which is the existence of multiple fields with very heavy, viscous oil which needs thermal methods to heat the oil to improve recovery."
There are three main methods of enhanced oil recovery being used by Shell, these are: Improved extraction is achieved by gas injection, thermal recovery, and chemical injection.
Gas injection is the most commonly used EOR technique. Here, gas such as carbon dioxide (CO2), natural gas, or nitrogen is injected into the reservoir whereupon it expands and thereby pushes additional oil to a production wellbore, and moreover dissolves in the oil to lower its viscosity and improves the flow rate of the oil.
The King is calling for a halt to exploration, but do you agree?
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